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Emprender is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “to undertake, engage in”.
Below are all of the conjugations for emprender in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | to undertake, engage in |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | emprender |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está emprendiendo) and past continuous (estaba emprendiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. undertaking).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he emprendido and hubiera emprendido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have undertaken).
| Gerundio / Gerund | emprendiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | emprendido |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I undertake” or “they undertake”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | emprendo |
| Tú | emprendes |
| Él / Ella / Usted | emprende |
| Nosotros / as | emprendemos |
| Vosotros / as | emprendéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | emprenden |
| Vos | emprendés |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I undertook” or “she undertook” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | emprendí | I undertook |
| Tú | emprendiste | You undertook |
| Él / Ella / Usted | emprendió | He / she / you undertook |
| Nosotros / as | emprendimos | We undertook |
| Vosotros / as | emprendisteis | You undertook |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | emprendieron | They / you undertook |
| Vos | emprendiste | You undertook |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was undertaking” or “she was undertaking” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | emprendía | I was undertaking |
| Tú | emprendías | You were undertaking |
| Él / Ella / Usted | emprendía | He was / she was / you were undertaking |
| Nosotros / as | emprendíamos | We were undertaking |
| Vosotros / as | emprendíais | You were undertaking |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | emprendían | They / you were undertaking |
| Vos | emprendías | You were undertaking |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have undertaken” and “she has undertaken”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he emprendido | I have undertaken |
| Tú | has emprendido | You have undertaken |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha emprendido | He has / she has / you have undertaken |
| Nosotros / as | hemos emprendido | We have undertaken |
| Vosotros / as | habéis emprendido | You have undertaken |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han emprendido | They / you have undertaken |
| Vos | has emprendido | You have undertaken |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would undertake” or “she would undertake”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | emprendería | I would undertake |
| Tú | emprenderías | You would undertake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | emprendería | He / she / you would undertake |
| Nosotros / as | emprenderíamos | We would undertake |
| Vosotros / as | emprenderíais | You would undertake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | emprenderían | They / you would undertake |
| Vos | emprenderías | You would undertake |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will undertake” or “they will undertake”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a emprender” means “They are going to undertake”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | emprenderé | I will undertake |
| Tú | emprenderás | You will undertake |
| Él / Ella / Usted | emprenderá | He / she / you will undertake |
| Nosotros / as | emprenderemos | We will undertake |
| Vosotros / as | emprenderéis | You will undertake |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | emprenderán | They / you will undertake |
| Vos | emprenderás | You will undertake |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | emprenda |
| Tú | emprendas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | emprenda |
| Nosotros / as | emprendamos |
| Vosotros / as | emprendáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | emprendan |
| Vos | emprendas |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | emprendiera | emprendiese |
| Tú | emprendieras | emprendiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | emprendiera | emprendiese |
| Nosotros / as | emprendiéramos | emprendiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | emprendierais | emprendieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | emprendieran | emprendiesen |
| Vos | emprendieras | emprendiese |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | emprendiere |
| Tú | emprendieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | emprendiere |
| Nosotros / as | emprendiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | emprendiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | emprendieren |
| Vos | emprendieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “undertake!” and “don’t undertake!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | emprende | no emprendas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | emprenda | no emprenda |
| Nosotros / as | emprendamos | no emprendamos |
| Vosotros / as | emprended | no emprendáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | emprendan | no emprendan |
| Vos | emprendé | no emprendas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya emprendido |
| Tú | hayas emprendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya emprendido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos emprendido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis emprendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan emprendido |
| Vos | hayas emprendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera emprendido / hubiese emprendido |
| Tú | hubieras emprendido / hubieses emprendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera emprendido / hubiese emprendido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos emprendido / hubiésemos emprendido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais emprendido / hubieseis emprendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran emprendido / hubiesen emprendido |
| Vos | hubieras emprendido / hubieses emprendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere emprendido |
| Tú | hubieres emprendido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere emprendido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos emprendido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis emprendido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren emprendido |
| Vos | hubieres emprendido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté emprendiendo |
| Tú | estés emprendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté emprendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos emprendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis emprendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén emprendiendo |
| Vos | estés emprendiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera emprendiendo / estuviese emprendiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras emprendiendo / estuvieses emprendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera emprendiendo / estuviese emprendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos emprendiendo / estuviésamos emprendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais emprendiendo / estuvieseis emprendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera emprendiendo / estuviese emprendiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras emprendiendo / estuvieses emprendiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere emprendiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres emprendiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere emprendiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos emprendiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis emprendiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere emprendiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres emprendiendo |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos emprendés |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos emprendiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos emprendías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos emprenderías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos emprenderás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos emprendas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos emprendieras / Vos emprendiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos emprendé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no emprendas |